Abstract
The introduction of the National Curriculum 1988 led to a regime of national testing in the form of Standardised Assessment Tasks (SATs) at the end of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. The results of these tests were, and still are, used to create hierarchical league tables of schools. Research by Cooper and Dunne (2000) critiqued the effectiveness of one aspect of the SATs for mathematics. This paper will briefly summarise the research’s aims and findings. It will suggest that there are underpinning elements of positivist, neo realist and reductionist values within the testing policy. It will discuss the challenge the research presents to these values. Atkinson’s work (2000b) will be explored as a useful framework for an analysis of the relationship between the research and the current policy. Aspects of the general relationship between research and policy which are exemplified by this specific case, and issues relating to the social justice role of research and processes of policy making and amending will be discussed. It will be concluded that it is the function of research to question policy but that the relationship between researchers and policy makers is complex, and in this case the response of policy makers does not answer the questions raised by the research.
